Common Cantil — Fact Sheet

Agkistrodon bilineatus · Common Cantil

Full care guide

Provisional active-season targets; read the guide for evidence, seasonal restrictions and breeding uncertainties.

📋 Quick reference

🏠 Enclosure

Provide at least 120 × 60 × 60 cm for one adult and allow the snake to stretch fully. Check door gaps, vents and cable holes against the smallest animal housed. Fix rocks directly to the enclosure base so excavation cannot undermine them; retain clear sightlines to shift doors. Avoid sharp gravel, aromatic wood and unstable piles. Remove waste after securing the snake.

🪨 Substrate and furnishings

• Use at least the practical 120 × 60 × 60 cm layout in the table and allow the snake to stretch fully. Check door gaps, vents and cable holes against the smallest animal housed. Fix rocks directly to the enclosure base so excavation cannot undermine them; retain clear sightlines to shift doors. Avoid sharp gravel, aromatic wood and unstable piles. Remove waste after securing the snake.

• After quarantine, use about 5-8 cm of compactable soil and washed sand with dry leaf litter and securely supported bark shelters. Retain a small moist refuge rather than a wet floor. Keep cover away from the shift-door track so a concealed cantil cannot prevent safe closure. Paper facilitates quarantine and faecal inspection.

💡 Lighting

• Provide about 12-14 hours of visible light during the active season, with darkness at night and shaded retreats. A species-specific UVB requirement has not been demonstrated. If low-level UVB is used, measure exposure and retain complete shade; do not infer lamp strength from habitat photographs. Guard lamps and wiring against contact.

🌡️ Heating and temperature

• Basking spot: 30-32 °C
• Warm zone: 24-28 °C
• Cool zone: 22-24 °C
• Night: 20-24 °C

💧 Humidity and water

• Air humidity: 50–70%.

• Use 50-70% relative humidity as an initial management band, with ventilation and a mostly dry resting surface. Provide a small locally moist retreat during shedding without wetting the whole enclosure. Offer clean drinking water continuously in a stable, shallow bowl, serviced through the protected system. Dry habitat does not mean absence of water. Persistent condensation or repeated retained sheds needs review; never peel skin or force soaking.

🐁 Feeding

Acquire an individual already taking thawed whole mice. Use prey no wider than the thickest body section; juveniles need smaller meals, initially about every 7-10 days. Field prey variety does not justify collecting wild frogs or lizards. Record refusals and weight trends rather than offering larger meals.

An initial adult feeding interval is 14-21 days; adjust portions and timing to weight trend and condition. Deliver food through the collection’s protected feeding system. Avoid live rodents and substrate-coated food; dehydration, low temperatures and oversized meals increase regurgitation and impaction concerns. Whole prey normally needs no routine calcium or vitamin dusting. Do not improvise supplementation or force-feeding.

⚖️ Legal status

No CITES or specific EU wildlife-trade annex listing was found. Mexican official conservation material lists A. bilineatus under special protection (Pr); collection and export cannot be presumed lawful. Check current national implementation and the original stock records before transfer.

The Bern Convention is not a relevant native-range protection framework for this American species; this does not remove national wildlife or dangerous-animal restrictions.

Legal review: 17 September 2026. National capture, possession, registration, breeding, sale and transport rules may be stricter. Verify permits before transfer and keep invoices, breeder identity, parentage and import records. Trade status does not itself authorize keeping a venomous snake.

☠️ Venom

Potential effects include severe pain, swelling, tissue damage, bleeding and systemic illness. Studies distinguish cantil venom from that of US copperheads; a genus name alone cannot determine treatment. Central American medical guidance discusses regional polyvalent antivenom, but the receiving hospital must verify the exact species, product and current availability. Severity varies; a small wound does not rule out serious or delayed envenoming.

Treat every bite as an emergency, including an apparently dry bite. Move away, call emergency services, keep the person still, remove rings and support the limb without compression. Do not cut, suck, ice or tourniquet the wound, and do not catch the snake. Follow poison-centre instructions. Agree a receiving hospital and antivenom access before acquisition; treatment belongs in hospital.

🩺 Common problems

• Overheating: repeated escape attempts or unusual exposed resting require immediate measurement of the cool retreat.
• Dysecdysis and dehydration: review drinking access and the moist refuge; repeated problems need veterinary assessment.
• Respiratory infection or stomatitis: wheezing, bubbles or oral discharge require prompt professional care.
• Dermatitis, impaction, obesity and parasites: dirty wet bedding, substrate ingestion, excessive feeding or persistent weight loss need correction and diagnosis. Do not use automatic deworming or home restraint.